Following a long-running run on the Las Vegas strip, the showgirls from the production Jubilee! gave one last perfectly timed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its intricate costumes crafted by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, closed its doors due to dwindling audience numbers and critical reviewers who described it as a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Currently, nearly ten years later, the showgirl persona, or at least the glamorous showgirl look, is back.
The King of Sequins
Referred to as the “sultan of sequins”, Mackie has made over-the-top showgirl glitz his defining aesthetic, dressing everyone from screen legends to Madonna. Recently, a “naked” bodysuit he made for Cher in 1978 fetched $57,600, far exceeding its projected value, while a shimmering tasseled bodysuit with reflective wings that Mackie crafted for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I think it looks more enticing for the emerging artists who is seeking something other than what they were accustomed to”, he stated in an interview with a newspaper. “New stars are striving for a theatrical, more theatrical, breathtaking, entrance-making statement.”
A Pop Culture Resurgence
It’s a look that sashayed all the way to the epicenter of popular culture in 2025 largely due to Taylor Swift. In the past few months, the cultural juggernaut wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her new musical project. The rhinestone encrusted bra and thong, plumed armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record named The Life of a Showgirl.
She isn't alone. This year, glamorous nods have been adopted by singers including Miley Cyrus as they whizzed across concert platforms in glitter, revealing designs and feathers, spotlighted against theatrical sets. Her fashion curator Lorenzo Posocco mentioned in an interview with a fashion magazine he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the mid-century, Lipa’s dancers fluttered giant feathered fans.
Drawing from Tradition
These artists and other chart toppers also take inspiration from classic entertainment forms, including burlesque and ensemble references. The results are poles apart from the 90s Britney Spears era of short shirts and baggy pants, and hip-hop inspired dance moves that preceded this trend.
But some critics are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a ex- Jubilee! showgirl who danced in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word showgirl is being “used as an umbrella term covering everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now seemingly Taylor Swift.”
The Coveted Retro Style
For younger and modern stars, Mackie’s classic designs have become extremely desirable. In 2024, a famous actress honored to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actress wore a see-through embellished dress designed by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he created for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, a singer paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Mackie tasseled mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, Sabrina Carpenter wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a popular item among collectors.
“This style bring about nostalgia for a past glamour,” says Su Kim Chung, head of special collections at the University of Nevada, who researches the history of showgirls. “Now it is viewed as a sort of ‘acceptable’ appeal because it has been modified. It has got all the sophistication, the sparkles and the glitter but without the bare skin.”
More Than Simply Fashion: An Icon of Las Vegas
She says the showgirl image are central to the iconography of Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was flanked by two showgirls. While Las Vegas currently lacks any showgirl-based productions, Chung says they are still employed as an symbol of the city, showing up at corporate events and in promotional material. “The showgirl is still a remaining icon of Las Vegas glamour,” the expert says.
The Allure of Transformation
Nancy Hardy says the transformative effect of a showgirl persona is part of the allure. This is a notion Swift references in a recent behind-the-scenes film that documents the off-camera action from her extensive 2023 Eras tour, which included intense preparations, gym sessions and numerous shows across 21 countries, each running for 3.5 hours.
Hardy recalls her own stage routines as “like extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her feathered headdress was 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the basement. I had to leave early for my moment so I could rest before I went on stage. One is perspiring the whole time but creating this fantasy that it’s effortless and beautiful and dreamlike.”
Perhaps this is where the fascination of the showgirl really resides. In the chaos of 2025 there is a craving for fantasy. Who better to look to than these performers, who have always embodied make-believe, perfection and a world where no one falters.
